The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to an X-ray detector, and more particularly to a digital complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) X-ray detector with a high manufacturing yield.
The use of digital X-ray imaging systems continues to become increasingly invaluable with respect to a variety of technical applications. Digital X-ray imaging systems are a mainstay in the medical field allowing health care professionals to quickly diagnose and treat internal abnormalities of their patients. Additionally, their use has become increasingly important in industrial fields for visualizing internal contents of parts, baggage, parcels, and other objects, and for visualizing the contents and structural integrity of objects and for other purposes. Indeed, the evolution of digital X-ray detectors has enhanced both workflow and image quality of digital X-ray imaging systems.
Generally, X-ray imaging involves the generation of X-rays that are directed toward an object of interest. The X-rays pass through and around the object and then impact an X-ray film, X-ray cassette, or digital X-ray detector. In the context of the digital X-ray detector, X-ray photons traverse a scintillator that converts the X-ray photons to visible light, or light photons. The light photons then collide with a detector array that includes photosensing elements and electronic components that convert the light photons into electrical signals which are processed as digital image data and into digital images that can be viewed, stored, and/or transmitted electronically. As digital X-ray detectors continue to replace conventional X-ray film and X-ray cassettes, the need for improving the efficiency and image quality of digital X-ray imaging remains at the forefront.
The evolution of digital X-ray detectors has included the development of CMOS based digital X-ray detectors. Digital CMOS X-ray detectors are drawing more attention and becoming more popular in the area of fluoroscopic X-ray imaging especially in surgical and interventional applications because they exhibit extremely low electronic noise. However, one of the problems associated with digital CMOS X-ray detectors are their high cost compared to traditional amorphous silicon based digital X-ray detectors. The high cost of the digital CMOS X-ray detectors is due to a low manufacturing yield. A key failure mode that impacts the manufacturing yield of these detectors is defective lines in the CMOS detector arrays that create image artifacts in resulting images.
The subject matter of this disclosure greatly reduces the number of defective lines, improves the manufacturing yield of CMOS detector arrays, and reduces the cost of CMOS detector arrays, resulting in improved manufacturing yield and reduced cost of digital CMOS X-ray detectors.